Proposal Manager

Job Overview:

The Proposal Manager plays a key role in managing the full lifecycle of tenders and proposals across one of three key regions—North America, Australia/New Zealand/Asia, or South Africa/UK/Europe. Aligned with the region's core hours, the Proposal Manager leads the planning, coordination, and delivery of high-quality, compliant, and persuasive submissions that reflect the company's strategic objectives. This role ensures strict adherence to the company's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for proposal management, fosters best practices across regional sales teams, and continuously drives process improvement and knowledge sharing to enhance win rates and efficiency.

Responsibilities:

1. Opportunity Identification & Pre-Bid Strategy

2. Monitor tender portals and digests to identify opportunities aligned with company strengths and strategic goals.

3. Collaborate with key account leads and senior management to support enterprise-wide solution development.
4. Facilitate go/no-go discussions to ensure focus on qualified, high-value bids.

2. Bid/Proposal Planning & Project Management

• Interpret RFPs and coordinate with delivery owners to confirm stakeholders, key dates, and deliverables.
• Lead end-to-end proposal project management—strategy, planning, kick-off, coordination, and final submission.
• Drive alignment and accountability among sales, operations, and subject-matter experts to ensure timely, high-quality input.
• Manage multiple concurrent tenders with structured timelines and governance processes.
• Ensure full compliance with SOPs, quality standards, and submission requirements.
• Conduct post-submission debriefs and share lessons learned across regions.

3. Content Development & Proposal Writing

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather data and craft persuasive, client-focused proposals, EOIs, and tenders.
• Write and edit content that clearly communicates the company's value, innovation, and client-centric approach.
• Coordinate with graphic designers to create visually compelling and compliant layouts.
• Translate technical information into engaging, solution-oriented narratives.

4. Quality Control & Compliance

• Partner with sales and delivery teams to ensure all bids meet contractual, commercial, and client requirements.
• Proofread and review proposals to ensure consistency, precision, and professionalism.
• Maintain strict adherence to brand and compliance standards.

5. Regional Leadership & Process Adoption

• Provide proposal management within the assigned region's time zone to ensure real-time collaboration.
• Develop an understanding of local market conditions, buyer expectations, and cultural nuances.
• Champion the SOP for tenders and proposals, reinforcing structured and disciplined proposal practices.

6. Knowledge Management & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain best-practice templates, a central content library, and standardized proposal resources.
• Lead post-bid reviews, capture lessons learned, and facilitate knowledge sharing to boost efficiency and success rates.
• Track and analyze tender performance in CRM systems, providing insights to improve future proposals.
• Support ongoing process enhancement and content optimization initiatives.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 4 years of proven experience in end-to-end proposal or tender management within consulting, recruitment, professional services, or related sectors.
• Exceptional English writing, editing, and proofreading skills; ability to present complex ideas persuasively.
• Strong project management capability with experience handling multiple bids under tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work within and promote structured SOPs, influencing teams new to formal proposal processes.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and interpersonal skills, with cultural sensitivity across global teams.
• High attention to detail, compliance, and commitment to quality.
• Preferred:
• APMP (Association of Proposal Management Professionals) or similar certification.
• Experience using proposal automation tools, CRM systems, and content libraries.
• Exposure to change management within global or matrix organizations.